Climate change as a political issue

Part 1

Environment and international politics

From Stockholm to Copenhagen

Session 1

The rise of the environment as a political issue

Since the 1970s, environmental concerns have climbed their way to the top of the political agenda

1972: Meadows report of the Club of Rome

1972: Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment 26 principles of environmental governance Creation of UNEP

Catastrophes and accidents

1976: Seveso toxic dioxins leak

1979: Three-Mile Island incident

1982: Seveso directive

1984: Bhopal catastrophe

1986: Chernobyl

Scientific discoveries Man lands on the Moon 1969

Hole in the ozone layer Discovered in the 1980s Montreal Protocol 1987

Climate change First measurements in the 1950s First models in the 1970s (Hansen) Creation of the IPCC 1988

The rise of global governance 1987: ‘Our Common Future’ by the World

Commission on Environment and Development ‘Sustainable development’: ‘a development that meets

the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’

Montreal Protocol 1987 Aimed at tackling the depletion of the ozone layer One of the most successful international agreements Develops the concept of ‘common but differentiated

responsibility’ Bears many resemblances with the Kyoto Protocol

Major UN Conferences 1972: Stockholm Conference 1992: Rio Earth Summit

Agenda 21 Three major conventions: UNFCCC (climate

change), UNCBD (biodiversity), UNCCCD (desrtification)

1997: Kyoto Protocol 2002: Johannesburg summit on sustainable

development First failure of international cooperation

Copenhagen 2009: from cooperation to collaboration

Rio +20: The end of the road

The prospects for the Rio +20 conference looked grim already.

The conference was indeed a disaster. No more appetite for international cooperation. 2012 is the last year when GHG emissions are

capped.

No one really knows what will happen on January 1st, 2013.

So why bother?

International cooperation remains necessary because there’s no relationship between the quantity of GHG that a region or a country

emits and the consequence for that area in terms of climate change

the quantity of GHG that we emit today and the changes in the climate our generation will experience

Thus there’s a necessity of: International cooperation Long-term cooperation